They were strangers, yes, but runners like her. When Toronto’s Nawal Al-Busaidi thought about the attack on the marathon in Boston, she saw herself in the victims’ shoes.

“I imagine myself being one of those people,” Al-Busaidi, 32, said Sunday. “And those families, what they’re going through at this point — people who died, people who lost limbs. And so we’re going to run today and say, hey, we’re doing it for you too.”

The Yonge Street 10k event was the first major Toronto road race since the Monday bombing. Al-Busaidi and hundreds of other runners wore special bibs that read “runners united in support” above an image of the Boston skyline. Mark Burke, 51, wore a Bruins jersey.

Briefly removing their earbuds, the runners joined in a 30-second moment of silence at the start line. Then they returned to their pump-up music.

“I think we have seen in the last few days that the spirit of the entire marathon world is undiminished,” race director Alan Brookes, who was in Boston for the marathon, said in his pre-race speech. He added: “This really, I think, is the best medicine.”

Brookes said the police presence was larger this year than at previous races, but there was no conspicuous show of force. In another subtle change prompted by the Boston attack, the plastic bags provided to runners for their belongings were transparent rather than coloured.

Brookes said he was told that officers quickly inspected and cleared two bags briefly thought to be suspicious. There were no real scares, he said, and the 10-kilometre race proceeded as usual.

Kip Kangogo of Kenya, who lives in Lethbridge, finished first in 28:57, beating Olympian Eric Gillis of Guelph by four seconds. Kangogo, 33, came second to a hard-charging Olympian Reid Coolsaet by three tenths of a second in 2012 and placed third to Coolsaet and Gillis in 2011.

The women’s winner was Lanni Marchant, the elite Canadian who is also a criminal lawyer in Tennessee. Marchant, 29, finished in 31:58, more than a minute and a half ahead of her nearest rival.

More than 7,000 people signed up in all. One of them was Pablo Aviles, a 25-year-old student from Brazil who shook his head at the 2-degree starting temperature.

“We have to run,” Aviles said. “For life.”

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